594: 
APvTICULATA. 
THE BOAT-FLT. 
TrfE NEPA CINEREA. 
hinder legs, which are extended on each side of them hke oars. Hence the Notonecta, JV. glauca^ 
is generally known as the Boat-Fly. Tlie}^ carry the air required for their respiration in a space 
left for this purpose between the wings and the 
back. They are very active . and predaceous 
animals, and when captured, some of them often 
inflict a painful wound with tlieir powerful ros- 
trum. Several species may be met with in al- 
most any piece of water. In this country they 
are called Bach- Swimmers. 
In another family, the Nepina, the head is 
small and triangular, and generally consider- 
ably narrower than the thorax. Their legs 
are generally less distinctly formed for swim- 
ming than in the preceding group, but the 
anterior pair are converted into powerful raptorial organs ; the Nepina, although much slower 
in their movements, being quite as predaceous in 
their habits as the Notonectida. The iVe/xi cinerea 
is a European example of this family, which may 
be met with there in every pond. We have several 
species in this country. 
In the Geocores, or Land-Bugs^ for which Mr. 
Westwood has proposed the name of Aurocores, 
Air-Bugs, as more appropriate, some of the spe- 
cies inhabiting the surface of the water, the an- 
tennae are never concealed, and the legs are always 
formed for running. When disturbed or irritated, 
most of them emit a most offensive odor. These 
insects form nine principal groups, of which the first four have the rostrum of three joints, 
while in the remainder this organ is composed of four articulations. The species with a three- 
jointed rostrum are for the most part predaceous in their habits, while those with four joints 
generally feed upon vegetable juices. To the Geocores belongs the Bed-Bug, Oimex lectulm-ius, 
which is said, though without sufficient authority, to have been introduced from America into 
Europe, in timber. The Squash-Bug, Coreus tristis, well known for its disgusting odor, and its 
destruction of pumpkin and squash vines, is a near relative, as it should be, of the bed-bug. 
The Scutata include some brilliant insects, biit those best known in our country belong to 
the genus Pentaloma, which are found on berry-bushes and strawberry-vines, and often impart 
their oftensive smell to the' fruit. The Calliclece of hot climates rival the butterflies in their bril- 
liant golden-green, spotted with black. 
THE HOMOPTEKA. 
The Homoptera form three great groups or tribes — the Coccina, Phytophthiria, and Cicadaria — 
composed of numerous insects, the history of some of which is still very imperfectly known. 
THE COCCmA. 
Of these the tarsi have only one joint. The males are furnished with two wings with a few 
straight nervures; they are destitute of a rostrum, and pass their pupa stage in a state of repose. 
The females are destitute of wings, possess a rostrum, and appear to undergo no metamorphosis 
whatever. Of these insects there are several species, some of which are of great commercial 
importance. The finest red dyes known to our manufacturers are derived from these creatures. 
The Lecanium ilicis, which inhabits the ilex, or ever-green oak of the countries round the Medi- 
terranean, was employed for this purpose by the ancient Greeks and Romans, as it is still by the 
Arabs ; and until the introduction of the Mexican cochineal, another species, the PoT2:)hyrophora 
Polonica, which lives on the roots of the Scleranthus perennis in Central Europe, was much used 
